Saturday, November 14, 2009

Seelan Palay, the activist that is tactically made a non-SDP member, sheds some light to the extent on how much the SDP loves foreigners (while condemning government policies on foreign workers and talents).

A Burmese shares with us how Burmese supports SDP and other oppositions in Singapore.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Dr Chee Soon Juan never misses an opportunity to capitalise on foreign platforms to voice out his flawed ideologies.

And he's not the only one in the SDP to be pro-foreigner. Just think of Seelan Palay, who did a hunger strike for the Hindus, not in Singapore, but in Malaysia, following the detention of the HINDRAF activists. SDP also held vigils for Burmese and I would have thought they pray to Mother Aung San Su Kyi.

What kind of political leader would ask foreign businesses not to come into the country? Dr Chee Soon Juan! As irritating as a fly pestering you on a hot sunny day, Dr Chee Soon Juan appealed to foreign governments and businesses not to deal with Singapore, claiming that they should not support the not-so-democratic Singapore.

AND YET... Dr Chee Soon Juan and Singapore Democratic Party are scolding the PAP for not helping the people enough during the economic recession (think Tak Boleh Tahan campaign, that saw SDP members Tak Boleh Tahan and giving up on continuing the campaign). Now how does SDP reconcile the fact that Singapore needs foreign businesses here to help build the economy so that locals get job? Nah, they're more interested in foreigners.

Of course, Mrs Chee is an exotic Taiwanese. Jarrod Luo, Honorary Secretary of Young Democrats, got his degree from Australia and frequent Macau and Hong Kong for his online gambling business. Chee Siok Chin so wants to go overseas to attend class.

SDP could prosper if it wasn't a political party. Perhaps it should consider opening a travel agency or offer espionage services.

..... So what was the agenda of the Swedish activist, Mr Johan Skarendal?

He is a member of the Swedish International Liberal Centre (Silc), whose avowed goal, as stated on its website, is 'to strengthen organisations and support individuals who develop and promote democracy and human rights'.

Mr Skarendal, 29, is in charge of Silc activities in Singapore and the group is affiliated to the Liberal Party, one of the four political parties in the Swedish government since 2006.

The group has extensive reach globally and funds activities which promote its goals....

The rules for foreign funding of local political parties here are clear. The Political Donation Act bans political parties and organisations from receiving foreign donations.

But could foreign groups influence politics through non-political donations using civil societies as a front?

After all, NGOs have shown they can spark a change here....

Singapore Management University law lecturer Eugene Tan said no CSO (Civil Society Organisation) would be breaking the law by virtue of receiving foreign funding as long as they are not recognised as a political organisation.

But he said they have an 'ethical duty' to say who funds them so people who give donations can make an informed opinion about the group's motives...

Gay rights activist Alex Au, who is also a member of Maruah, however, didn't think there was any issue with foreign funding...

But he agreed that funding sources should be as open as possible.

'Any organisation that takes a public profile should act in a way that is in the interest of accountability, to a reasonable extent,' he said.

Who did Swedish activist meet here?

In about a one-week period in April, Swedish activist Johan Skarendal met an array of Singapore liberals.

Others included activist Alex Au from gay movement People Like Us and lawyer Peter Low...

Mr See said he met Mr Skarendal over drinks in town in a casual setting and the topic was mainly his experience with the Films Act...

Overseas Burmese Patriots spokesman Myo Mying Maung said he was introduced to Mr Skarendal by Mr Palay, and there were five Myanmar activists at the meeting, himself included.

Gay rights activist Mr Au said they spoke about social change and politics here.

'He asked us a number of questions, and we answered,' he said...

But The New Paper understands Mr Skarendal did not meet any minister or 'members of the establishment'...

Fact-finding

Activist Mr Palay, who was present at several of the meetings, would only say that Mr Skarendal came on a fact-finding mission...

All those interviewed denied being offered funds by Skarendal, who is not new to Singapore. A self-described good friend of opposition politician Chee Soon Juan, Mr Skarendal has been involved with the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) chief's work in human rights and the promotion of liberal democracies.

Just how close is the relationship and has Mr Skarendal funded Mr Chee's non-political agenda? The Swede would not say. Ignoring the question, he merely replied earlier that he considered Mr Chee a good friend and someone who had written a testimonial for his studies in Taiwan. Their relationship goes back to 2003. After Mr Chee visited Sweden in February that year, the SDP's youth wing organised a conference here in July...

Mr Chee also spoke at the conference, which was sponsored by Swedish-based institutions including SILC.

It was co-organised with the Sweden-Singapore Initiative for Democracy (SSID).

On SDP's website, the party says it is affiliated or working in close cooperation with several organisations including SSID, which is also funded by SILC.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

In this episode, we examine the state of the Young Democrats, youth wing of the Singapore Democratic Party.

Young Democrats (YD) Monthly Meeting For October 2009 on Saturday(31/10/09)‏

From:

Jarrod Luo (duckispro@hotmail.com)

Sent:

Saturday, October 31, 2009 6:47:42 PM

To:

Cc:

Dear all,

Please note that the meeting scheduled as per email subject has been called off, due to poor attendance. The Council shall arrange another day within the next week to meet, in order to close for the month of October and plan for the coming month of November.

The Council would like to take this opportunity to highlight to one and all that the overall participation level of YD members in Party events and activities have been disappointingly poor, for apart from the same few individuals who have been trying their best to make time for the cause, the rest of the members really need to do better in this aspect.

The Council would also like to highlight on another disturbing trend they observed. Despite the numerous communications channels available to connectthe members with the Party, it still seems that the latest plans and intentions of the Party are still being kept in the dark from some members. This should not be the case, as all members should already be on the email lists(e.g. this). And even if in the unlikely case that a member is not in the loop, the onus is on the member to put in the extra effort to connect with the Party and request the relevant updates.

Make no mistake, but all members should be clear on one thing: they are not being expected to put in any extra effort for anyone, nor anything. Not for the Party, not for Dr Chee, not even for our beloved country (emphasis added), Singapore. This extra effort has to be given because for better or worse, we are all in this together and ultimately it all boils to the reason why we are in politics and why, out of all parties, we have chosen this Party.

Hence, the Council would like to conclude by urging all YD members to reflect upon the events of the past months, and re-dedicate themselves anew to the Party and the cause it represents.

I agree that we need to work together as a team. I remembered the poll TOC had on it's website regarding the youth wings that people identify themselves with, Young Democrat had the 2nd highest vote. I guess people voted us because they looked at the parent party. If people knew the realities of the group and how active it was, people might not have voted us overwhelmingly.

We should find the root of the problem and not be pointing fingers at one another. We can look a few questions to discuss and think of a solution to it.

1) Is it a leadership issue?

2) Is it that members just can't be bothered?

3) Members feel alienated from the party as whole?

4) Members are afraid to be publicly identified with the party itself?

I am sure that all of us have our problems that becomes a stumbling block which prevents us from committing. Being youth, we also have other pursuits and problems such as trying to get a job, financial difficulties and other personal issues. Some of us would aspire to be members of parliaments while other would just want to help out.

As of now, I believe all of us joined the party because, firstly, we saw the PAP and the system that they have established as our enemy and secondly, we agreed with the parties goals. So we should all be working together towards the party goals.

I hope that we are able to overcome this commitment issue and move on from here.

Of the 5, only Jarrod Luo is a University Graduate. The only work he has done since is MLM (which he calls a business).

REALITY: Seelan Palay is not a SDP member

Seelan is not a YD or SDP member. But he helps out alot with their activities. He runs some campaigns(anti-death penalty, myanmar protest etc) in his own capacity but his work is often interwined with SDP's. It is not that he does not want to be a SDP member but John Tan (Asst Secretary General, SDP) thought he could help the party better by being a non-partisan member instead of a full-fledged SDP member. This is to make it appear like as if non-political sections of Singapore support SDP.

REALITY: No Internal Elections held to contest Party Leadership since Chiam's departure

There has also been no internal elections to contest the party leadership since Mr Chiam See Tong left the party. John Tan only joined the party in 2007, yet he was quickly made the Assistant Secretary General by Dr Chee Soon Juan. Again, no elections, no contests. Other members were not even consulted on the issue.

REALITY: Dr Chee Soon Juan is no Democrat

Dr Chee Soon Juan designates positions as he likes. There is no mechanism within the party to remove him from his position.

Dr Chee Soon Juan also has full control over income earned through the newsletter. Some of the funds are believed to be used for his own personal use [sentiments from ex-SDP members].

REALITY: The True Purpose for selling newspapers

SDP tries to recruit new members through their newspaper selling walks but this method has never been very successful. When they are out and about selling their newspapers, they also sell Dr Chee's books at the same time. Dr Chee's book sales are unaccounted for in the party records as it is his personal business. This is one way how Chee uses his party members for his own personal gain.

Most of SDP's present recruits have come through the various seminars and public forums that SDP conducts. It is during this forums that they try to get members of the public interested in their party.

Wait a Minute!How do we know if you are telling the truth?

We have reliable sources. We offer the Singapore Democratic Party the right of reply to whichever points it feels are not accurate.Members of SDP can email to perplexperspective@hotmail.com OR post your comments at the blog itself

NOTMYSDP wrote to Jarrod Luo demanding an explanation on his involvement in vice activities.

We await Jarrod Luo's response, failing which we will send in a public letter to Dr Chee Soon Juan.

The Singapore Democratic Party needs to be more transparent. We have not heard of how the SDP uses its funds collected through its website.

Hi Jarrod Luo (jarrod@yoursdp.org),

Several forumers have pointed out your involvement with Sunshine Empire, the owners of which are now undergoing trial for the Ponzi scheme.

I have also found evidence of your involvement with an online gambling site.

For the benefit of the residents of Bishan-Toa Payoh and Bukit Panjang, please disclose your involvement in the above-mentioned vice activities. Singapore Democratic Party has always asked the PAP government to be transparent. We as citizens will want to know the facts.

Chee Soon Juan wrote an open letter to Obama to congratulate him when he was inaugurated as President of the USA in January. Of course, it turned out to be more a complaints letter.

Dr Chee would probably be recycling this idea when President Obama drops by next month. Not My SDP would like to postulate what the new letter to Obama will look like with the following parody.

-----

President Obama,

I heard that you will be popping by next month for APEC 2009. That is why I am writing yet another open letter to you.

When you were inaugurated as President earlier this year, I also composed a letter to you. I couched the letter in the form of a congratulatory note, but it was more to air my political grievances to you and everyone who bothers to read my endless ramblings.

But you did not even deem it necessary to reply me. Of course, I was very devastated then. My disappointment only ceased after much soul searching. I finally consoled myself that you must have been too busy improving your basketball skills or pulling strings for the Nobel Peace Prize to write me a reply.

I have decided to forgive you, but I hope you will be more sensitive to a fellow freedom crusader's feeling in future. It really made me look bad in front of my supporters to be ignore. Please remember - no one ignores Chee Soon Juan.

Nevertheless, I am not known around Singapore as Mr Politically Persistent for no reason; hence this second attempt at an open letter. Initially, I was hoping to repeat most of the points I had made in my previous one, since you missed them anyway.

Since politically nothing much has changed here in Singapore, my letter would have been about the same old stuff - lack of civil, human and whatever rights here; Singapore PM is earning bigger bucks than you; many poor Singaporeans, not unlike the homeless ones over there in USA, and so on.

The only additional point I would have made is that our government here is trying to deprive the citizens of their wet-markets that the old folks are very sentimental about. . My party is pretending to fight for these and trying to impress the voters in a constituency we hope to contest soon. Don't underestimate people's passion for stinky and humid markets.

In Jan, I even made a video then, to enhance the emotional impact of my messages. The video is more intended for the lazy Singaporeans who prefer something more multi-media. You see, it's hard to compel them to read my long essays, and that is also why my party website has seen a big drop in readership. What to do, have to pander to the electorate's idiosyncrasies, right?

To cut to the chase, I have run out of ideas what else to do here. I like the catch-phrase you used very much - "Yes we can", I thought my party can too, but apparently we just can't think of any new ideas to get into parliament. Maybe you can lend me your campaign manager, that David Plouffe guy. He's quite good; at least better than the rag-tag team I have who simply echoes whatever I say.

Anyway, when I heard you were coming by, I could not decide whether to rejoice or feel downtrodden.

I rejoiced because I might have the opportunity to meet you personally when you are in Singapore. Imagine you and I rubbing shoulders together. It would give me much political mileage amongst my potential voters whom I regret to say, are very indifferent. And ignorant, if I may add.

Perhaps there would be some photo-op too. Then I can embellish my party website with pictures of you and I standing shoulder-to-shoulder not only physically, but against the tyranny of the autocratic governments around the world. I was told you are quite a tall guy, so I hope you won't mind if I stood on a small stool for the pose in front of the cameras. Our statures would then be more or less equal. A politician craves for some limelight, no?

Unfortunately, it's unlikely I'd even get within 10 miles of your entourage. Those pesky policemen will be tailing me and ensuring that I don't even get near to SUNTEC where the meetings will be held. So my colleagues and I are planning to deliberately break some laws by having some demonstrations.

I can't give any details of our plans here, since they are meant to be secret. I hope the noise we make won't interfere with the conference. Anyway, I heard nothing usually comes out of APEC meetings. So no loss. At least we would provide the international journalists something interesting to write about, and my international profile will be raised. It's good for me, because I'd be invited to seminars and talks overseas, and more importantly, get paid money which I quite desperately need.

At the same time, I have reasons to be sad by your attendance of APEC 2009. Perhaps simply out of courtesy, you probably be singing praises of your host, whom you should know by now are my political arch-enemies. It's a moral betrayal I'll have to bear for the duration of the conference. I'll just hope you won't carry it overboard, otherwise I'll stop writing to you in future.

SDP members linked to ISIS: "Muhammad Shamin Mohamed Sidek 29, and Muhammad Harith Jailani, 18, were detained in August this year. Investigations showed that they had harboured the intention to make their way to Syria to join the terrorist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and engage in violence there, MHA said".

Activists that are ashamed to be called SDP members:

Ng E JayPleaded guilty to TBT trial immediately after trial starts

Yap Keng HoRaised nonsensical questions in TBT trial such that Chia Ti Lik asked him to shut up

Priveen Suraj (President, YD)Graduated from Millenia InstituteJoined SDP due to Mother Narayanasamy Gogelavany aka Monica Kumar, who contested in GE2006. During nomination day, she amended her name on the form but did not seek the Elections Official to countersign, which nearly resulted in SDP's disqualification to contest Sembawang GRC (Source).

Contribute!

TOC deemed us as pro-Govt or pro-PAP. Sorry we are pro-Singapore. We have replied to you to state that we are not affiliated to any political parties & we are disappointed that you failed to include in your article. And we are sorry that you choose to be a stooge of SDP. Enjoy producing thrash when the world wants to recycle them!